i had a few of those e-mails today. never felt so good to hear that response. >> yeah, i think when the cell systems did reopen, there was a flood of those. i started to hear from more people the i'm okay signs kept coming through. steve, thank you very much for e i'm okay signs kept coming through. >> thanks you for joining me on this difficult night. our live coverage continues now with rachel mad dow. thanks to you for being here with us. i'm rachel maddow. the show is coming to you live just outside the hospital. today is patriot's day, which is a holiday here in my home state

of massachusetts. it's the day that tens of hows, no hundreds of thousands of people pour into the city to cheer on their loved ones who are running the marathon. three people were killed today in those explosions that were timed to go off at the finish line. among the people dead is a child, an 8 year old boy. more than 130 people have been injured. we are at massachusetts general hospital where within the last hour, trauma surgeon provided some details about the injured people he has treated over the course of the day. >> there's a variety of yen juries. the most serious are combined, soft tissue, bone jury h yen juries. many of them involve the lower extremitie extremities. a lot of small metal debris.

some people have asked if they were bb's or small bits of metal. i don't think we're able to say whether they were there intentionally or part of the vachlt. >> there have been doctors and surgery the since early this morning. he's performed several surgeries on victims of the bombings. the trauma surgeon describing that one of his medical partners has military experience and has served in iraq and afghanistan, he was describing that wartime experience as being very useful today as doctors treated some of the more than 130 people who were injured. there are many, many unanswered questions tonight, including unconfirmed reports on devices found. law enforcement officials have

not confirmed that there were other unsploided bombs. the official confirmation is that there were two devices. to the extent that there were other devices today, isolated and treated in some way by law enforcement, those may have been devices that were investigated as suspect packages and done away with by law enforce. . no arrests have been made. the investigation is now being headed by the fbi in conjunction with other federal and state and local agencies. i want to bring in a young man who is an eyewitness. he was eating with co-workers when he heard the first explosion. so you're about 100 yards away. what did you hear? >> bewere inside the restaurant. heard the first explosion. kind of shook the building a

little bit. we kind of wondered what it was. looked outside and saw some smoke. actually ran outside. then the second one blew up about 100 yards from us. >> did they sound like they were about the same size? >> the first one sounded small, because it was a little bit further down the street. i didn't realize until i watched the footage when i got home that they were basically the same size. ran back into the restaurant, i told everyone a bomb went off. i mean, that's -- and some people were in shock. they thought i was joking. some people thought it was a sewage pipe bursting or something. >> manhole? >> yeah. so we kind of stood there. and i was telling everybody to get out, run. we didn't know what to do. i went to twitter to see if there was any news. that's the only thing i could think of. there was nothing on twitter yet. you know, it had just happened. i tweeted out that, i think a

bomb just went off at the finish line. and about that time, it started to get chaotic, you know, cops telling us to run. so the restaurant's emptying out. we're running down the streets, like a scene from a movie. >> did you know where you were running to? >> no. it was absolute chaos. just masses of people just running down the street. and we kept running. they were, you know, directing us all the way, i mean, we started out right in front of the prudential center and ended up out in fenway. there was runners still running by, didn't realize what was going on. nobody was stopping them, really. that was the crazy part. because they had headphones or whatever. >> one of the things that unfortunately in coordinated attacks, one of the aspects of terror people experience is that there are multiple occasions that you saw. it was not one event, it was two events. so presumably you're afraid there was going to be a third.

>> that was the craziest thing. you don't really know where's safe? where it is to go? i didn't know if we should stay in the restaurant. we were running in the masses of people. and you didn't know if another explosion was going to occur. it was just the unknown, which that's the scariest feeling i've ever had. you feel like you're so close to death there. you just wanted to run home and kills my wife at that point, just yen stain. >> and at that point, no police officers or anybody on scene is able to tell you which way to go or where to go. >> all they're say something run. i mean, they're, you know, feeling the same things we are at that point. they didn't know what was going on. it was just chaos. >> nobody in peacetime situations in the united states ever has a police officer to just tell them run. >> exactly. >> it's not a good sign. thank you so much for telling us what you did. appreciate it.

>> jerod walker, again, an eyewitness today. he was about a hundred yards from where those bombs went off. there were so many eyewitnesses today because these bombs wednesday off in such a crowded area. at the finish line at the boston marathon, it's the most crowded of any where, but people line that route throughout its 26 mile path. that's part of why it's a big day in boston and why it's held on patriot's day. it's part of the reason, i think, it's so jarring to bostonians, it's the opposite of what we think of this day. bombs and incendiary devices have been used as weapons before in this country. and they are sometimes deadly. not always. sometimes. they're always disorienting and terrifying. and over time, when you look at these incidents. whether you look at different bombings in american history

that have been done by different people to different effect, one. things that happens and pretty much every time, is that it can take a long time to figure out what exactly happened. how many people were killed and hurt and who was responsible. in the last 20 years, consider some of these bombings in u.s. soil. 1993, the first attack on the world trade center. the truck bomb tore apart the lower part of the world trade center. more than a thousand people were injured. 700 fbi agents investigating the first world trade center bombing. 1994, the man we call the unabomber sent a letter bomb packed in a piece of mail to an advertising executive in caldwell, new jersey. and the explosion killed that

new jersey man. the unabomber had been sending bombs already for 15 years by the time that happened. 1995, the oklahoma city bombing. a truck bomb killed with explosives killed 168 people. it was on the anniversary on the raid on the branch difficult id yan kpounl. the bureau of alcohol, to be ak o he and firearms carried out that raid. at first, after the oklahoma city bomb, there was speculation that there maybe was connection between those two events, that maybe it had been branch davidians survivors who carried that out. that was not correct. it turns out the guy who was responsible tor that attack, tim think mcvey was already sitting in a jail cell about 80 miles from the attack. he'd left the scene of the attack. he'd been pulled over by a

police officer because the vehicle he was driving was missing a license plate. police officer arrested him for carrying a concealed weapon and ultimately he was arrested for killing 16 8 people. 1995, the unabomber struck again. it was another year before the fbi finally arrested ted kaczynski. it took years for them to identify and catch him. 1996, the olympic games in atlanta. a security guard at the park saw the bag and started clearing the area when the bomb went off. a woman was killed by the bomb. another man had a heart attack as a result of it. more than a hundred people were wounded. the security guard in this case, a man named richard jewel went from hero to suspect and became suspected in that crime, although he was never actually

charged with it. he was the subject of wide spread public speculation and suspicion before he was cleared eventually of any wrongdoing in that attack. 1998, a bombing at an abortion clinic which killed one person and seriously injured another. they used a row bott to search for a second bomb there. they thought the bombing might be maybe connected to other attacks in atlanta. in that case they were right. five years later, five years after that bombing of an abortion clinic, eric rudolf was arrested for that bombing at the olympic games that had been wrongly blamed on the security guard. in 2000, an arson attack on a temple caused $700,000 in damage. a naturalized sit ten was found guilty. in 2002, somebody planted 18

pipe-bombs. six people were injured. it's amazing that no one was killed. police had no idea who the serial pipe-bomber was. the 21 year old was arrested and convicted. thankfully nobody was injured. security tame showed a man on a bicycle near the scene, but nobody was ever charged with a crime. also in 2008 an explosion at a federal courthouse in san diego. nobody was injured. 3 pounds of explosives with over a hundred roofing nails packed in. it took agents from the a tfl f, the fbi and the local da's office to solve the crime. a man with money problems planned it to collect the reward money. he ended up sentenced to 55

years in prison. the fbi took over the case, treated it leak domestic terrorism. nobody's ever been charged for those attacks. 2011 at a martin luther king june josh parade, city workers found a backpack with explosives. the february was able to track the fishing weights which led them to a white supremacist. those are just some of the attacks by explosive device that we have seen here in the united states in the last 20 years today. some of the more ignorant commentary asserted that nothing happened like this in the united states. nothing has ever happened at the finish line of the boston marathon on patriots' day. it's not like we have no experience with people setting

off bombs. what we can learn is that sometimes it takes a while to figure out who it is. over these incidents in the last 20 years, it took time, it took time before anybody knew what happened let' lone who had done it and why. i want to bring into the conversation michael lighter. he's a national security analyst. mr. lighter, thank you very much for be being with us again. >> good to be back with you, rachel. >> in terms of what we know, now, we are now hearing from law enforcement sources that the only two confirmed smoesive devices are those that exploded. that other packages that may have been detonated or exploded or done away with by law enforcement today may just have been things they were investigating as potential suspect devices. does that change anything in

terms of potential leads or what you think the scale of the investigation might be? >> i think it changes the, my view of the attacks a little bit. although, i have to say i'm not at all surprised that initial information has proven to be wrong. that happened every time in these investigations. whether it's how many people were injured, how many weapons, what kind of weapons. first reports are always wrong in the confusion. more bombs, more weapons, i think would pretty clearly indicate greater sophistication. but as you just suggested in your piece, we have to be so careful about drawing conclusions too early on. so frankly, fewer bombs means less sophistication, but that doesn't tell me as a counter terrorism professional whether it's an unabomber or islamic international terrorism.

>> governor deval patrick is taking time to describe the area as an active crime scene. in a technical sense, does that mean it is still a place they are collecting evidence and so potentially has to be sealed from outside contamination? >> they'll do their best. i think a large area is sealed and certainly the area around the street and the route is going to be very, very carefully examined for forensic evidence by boast the boston police department and the nofbi. it's important that evidence is not contaminated so you can do good forensic analysis and try to track it back in a way that you can identify who did this, where it came from, what sorts of materials were used whether or not there's a certain signature associated with these bombs that the fbi or alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives

have seen in the past. it's an enormous area that they have to cordon off, and they will probably need to have it closed for a period of 12, 24, 36 hours to do this sort of investigation. >> i was listening for a time today to the boston emergency police scanner, which is the publicly accessible scanner that anybody can listen in on. hearing the calls for the boston police department for all off-duty police officers to report to their districts. everybody is at work. everybody is on this. in that kind of an environment with a large city like this, large police department, obviously the first responders on the scene are race volunteers, runners themselves, passersby. and emts. how does it work practically to have the foeb in charge?

the n fbi is coordinating it. what does that mean when they're dealing with a large sort of resources. >> first of all, new in being a real attack is not new to the city of boston, the state of massachusetts and the federal authorities up there. back in 2011, just over two years ago, and previously before that the federal government in conjunction with boston did exercises exactly to prepare for situations like this. so what you have is the immediate response is always going to be governed by the boston police department and fire department. and then over team there will be a transition to the fbi. but most importantly, this has to be done hand in hand. the state, local and federal cooperation, this isn't honestly like the movies, where the fbi shows up and says we're in charge now.

the relationship between the fbi and state and local authorities in these situations is so much more advanced than it was. and having worked with commissioner ed davis and the fbi for many years, this is ha team that's going to work well together. and i'm really confident that people shouldn't expect fights and turf battles. peel understand, this is a time when everybody works together. the fbi will lead, but the fbi will lean on every agency to collect the information necessary to track these guys down. >> in terms of how this happened today, obviously what everyone wants to know is who's responsible and how they're going to be brought to justice. but in terms of terrorism or even, even crime as an ongoing threat, in large scale security environments like this, do you feel that we are actually better now at protecting large scale

security events leak the boston marathon or other large scale events that happen in other major cities than we were before 9/11? it's worrying to see something leak this happen when we feel like we've been safer. how could something like this happen in an environment that's this secure and do you feel like we've made a lot of progress. >> that's a great question. i still brief despite this awful tragedy, that we are much, much safer. but what we're safer from is the risk of a catastrophic attack. we hope that the intelligence will help us disrupt it before it happens, like past plots against the new york city subway system. we hope that as an explosion or attack begins, someone mate be able to disrupt it as we saw in times square. and unfortunately, some of these

are going to get through. and then what we hope and what we prepare for is a better response to reduce the casualties. we have to think of this as a set of multi layer defenses. and because we have an attack like this does not mean that we are not safe. it means that we are going to live for the foreseeable future with -- what we should take from this is we have to defend against these things, reduce the likelihood of the big, big scale attacks, and then be really resilient. and we've heard that from first responders and bystanders about how they're not going to let this affect their lives. this is a tragedy, but we shouldn't take this as the system has failed, we're not safer -- we are. but things are going to get through and we're going to have tragedies like we will today. >> and one of the only ways that

we can help frustrate the aims of people who do things like this is to show how resilient we are. thank you very much. it's good to have you here. >> thank you, rachel. >> i want to tell you that the fbi has set up a phone number for anybody to call request information on today's attack. they are describing their call for toips in terms of people who may know anything about what happened in boston today in terms of no information being too insignificant, no potential lead being too small. if you do have information that you think might be of help in the investigation into what happened today in boston, the number to call is easy to remember. it's 1-800-call-fbi. stay with us. we'll be right back n and within budget.

angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact that i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. join today and find out why over 1 million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust.

ah beautiful. work the camera... work it...work it! those hands. oooh la la! magnifique! what's your secret? what? huh? dawn? how can this be? [ female announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay beauty helps lock in skin's natural moisture to improve the look and feel of hands in 5 uses. [ sponge ] gotta hand it to your beautiful hands, huh? [ female announcer ] love it, or get double your money back. dawn does more. [ sponge ] so it's not a chore.

earlier today i was briefed by my homeland security team on the situation in boston. i've directed the full row sources of the federal government to help state and local authorities protect our people, increase security around the united states as necessary and investigate what happened. i've spoken to fbi director muller and secretary napolitano and they're organizing the appropriate resources to respond. i've updated both parties and there are no republicans or democrats, we are united for our fellow citizens. i've also spoken with governor patrick and mayor menino and made it clear that they have every resource available to care for the victims and counsel the families. and i made clear to them that all americans stand with the people of boston. we still do not know who did

this or why. and people shouldn't jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. but make no mistake. we will get to the bottle of this. and we will find out who did this. we'll find out why they did this. any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. president obama speaking earlier today aft being briefed on the bomb blasts that killed three people near the finish line of the boston marathon and injured well over a hundred more. many of those injuries grievous. what is the white house saying at this hour? what are you hearing from the top? >> well, good evening, rachel. senior administration officials tell me that president obama will continue to be briefed on this situation throughout the evening. right now the white house is approaching this as an act of terror. i can read you the latest statement that we have from a senior administration official

and i believe we have a graphic of that as well. any event with multiple explosive devices is clearly an act of terror and will be approached as an act of terror. however, we don't know yet who carried out this attack. and a thorough investigation will have to determine whether it was planned and carried outpy a troshist group, foreign or domestic. now i can tell you that is really the key question here tonight. was this carried out by a terrorist group homegrown? or a foreign terrorist group. and the white house just simply does not know. there are still a lot of questions about who is responsible for what happened today in boston. the president was made aware of the events at about 3:00 this afternoon. he was briefed on the situation as he pointed out in his remarks, he did make phone calls to mayor tom menino, i have been here all afternoon. i can tell you moments after those blasts went off in boston,

pennsylvania avenue outside of the white house was shut down, closed to foot traffic. it is normally closed to cars, to vehicles. but today it was closed to foot traffic. it was done out of an abundance of caution. that is something that is sort of par for the course when there has been a breach of security in another state. so that is something that we would expect, but i can tell you that at this hour pennsylvania avenue is still closed down to foot traffic outside of the white house. and, again, president obama continues to monitor this situation. we expect him to receive briefs throughout the evening. >> kristin walker, thank you very much. it's good to have that perspective. i want to bring in now from boylston street in boston, nbc's kerry sanders who's out there in the cold. i understand police are still on the scene right now. what can you tell us about what things look like right there now. >> it is pretty much shut down.

and it will continue to be that way through into tomorrow. the authorities are treating this vast area as a crime scene. it's possible that there may be a clue that is not quite obvious in the daylight, perhaps it will reveal itself. and so most of the access in and out is going to be restricted. there's a tremendous presence of police officers here. the boston department is on alpha bravo shifts. the focus here is to find a suspect or suspects. ed davis, the police commissioner says that anybody who briefs that there's a suspect at brigham womens he said that is not correct. fine line between person of interest and a suspect. bottom line is everybody has the same question, who is or who are responsible for this and followed by the question, why. tomorrow will be a difficult day

in the city. as much of the city will attempt to operate. things will move much slower. the transportation system, the greenl line that runs on the surface, it's going to move slowly because officers are going to be checking packages, checking backpacks. this is a city with a lot of universities. a lot of people carrying backpacks. all of that is going to move slowly now that they know that these bombs had shrapnel inside and that is what caused so much of the damage here. shrapnel are like little ball bearings or bbs that hit people. very painful and in this case deadly. what will happen for the police? well, the police have on their front several approaches. first of all, as we mentioned, looking for details, perhaps some piece of evidence that will reveal itself tomorrow. but they're also working their

intelligence network. and that means that if it is a group of people, likely somebody is going to say something to someone. and it will maybe even be revealed overnight. and police will move in. but if it's a single person here, just one person who is responsible, it could be that much more difficult. and that's why they're asking members of the public who may have an idea, may have a suggestion, may have not so much a theory, but somebody, something doesn't sit right. they want that information brought to the police department. they're also asking people to provide information to the fbi as well as to the police department thiany video, any pictures, things that you may have took that you didn't think was important may now be important. so there's a whole team of task force that will be looking at those pictures brought in, even though it may be a picture taken hours before the race, hours before the explosion, something there may be useful.

so the authorities are urging people to please provide that information. and as you know, as all of that comes in, it's a mountain to get through. but they have a team here. they have folks from the fbi, and just about every other agency in the state contributing what they can to see if they can try to solve why their happened and who's responsible. rachel? >> nbc's kerry sanders. thank you very much. appreciate you being out there in the cold for us. it is row markable. one thing that has changed over the past decade is the word from law enforcement when incidents like this happen. it used to be about leaving the police to do their job. more and more you essentially hear police, fbi, law enforcement of every kind saying give us everything you've got. tell us everything you know. don't self censor. we have more faith in our data mining acts than we used to.

we're an intelligence based apparatus in this country and we want it if you've got it. seeing that change over time gives us some sense of how we've evolved. both at the international level but in terms of responding and being resilient once it happens. i want to bring in peter kraus. based on what we know thus far, what are you most curious about? what are you watching for the most in terms of figuring out whether this might be adescribable to terrorist groups that beano of? >> well, i think the fact that you have a number of different bombings going off, definitely a signature for possible planning from either lone wolf individuals or an organization. you want to look for claiming. as far as i know, no group has claimed the attack. you want to look to some degree

whether you have video there. on one hand this was a god attack for these people because it was a public event. it's a soft target. on the other hand we have live streaming of when the bombings ocowered. also people calling in tips i think would be very helpful. >> there's been nothing that's been characterized as credible. we've heard that there's been some noise in internet chat rooms, but nothing anybody is taking all that seriously. i wonder about what we are able to tell from the size and sophistication of the bombs. is bomb making capacity, bomb making technique now so democratized that a bomb leak this doesn't lead you to a specific group of experts because almost anybody could do a bomb like this. >> it's scary to say, unfortunately this has been

democratized for some time. directions for this are on the internet. the issue is that if this is a lone wolf individual, someone who's motivated but not necessarily trained, we see a hundred people who can't shoot straight. oftentimes you need people who are from the battlefield who can carry these attacks out. even though it seems leak getting access to bombs is easy. it's a scary thing that people have access to these weapons. i don't think we can say it's this type of group or this type of individual. the weapon itself is not so sophisticated. >> in terms of boston's resilience, do we know nanythin about how good a counter terrorism boston is.

>> in terms of actual attacks, there have been a number of false starts, but we haven't had anything of this magnitude. i guess i would say this. on the one hand, this is a target that makes a lot of sense for somebody trying to get notoriety. one of the things you were talking about before, what makes an attack a strategy cal success. what's going to happen next year. there's going to be more than ever before. memorializing the people who died here today as well as the first responders. we had a couple people killed despite many more wounded. there was quick reaction time. in the way this can have a political impact, you couldn't pick a woshs target in terms of

cowing people. instead, when weem come back with resilience, showing that we're not going to be cowed by this, it's infective. so in many ways they made a mistake here. >> i felt exactly that way. the london marathon is going ahead as scheduled with resilience inity mind. >> it should be. >> thank you for being here. more of our coverage at the boston marathon when we come back.

we were about a half block from where the bombs explode. we were waiting for a friend who had run the marathon. we were having lunch when this massive explosion occurs and we can feel everything shaking. a second blast hit. we looked outside. a plume of smoke up in the air. we saw the building across from the spectator stands, shaking. and that's when panic-struck everyone in that restaurant. >> that was alicia lane from knbc in los angeles who was in town here in boston to cheer on

a friend running the marathon. the investigation began today almost immediately. federal agents joining local law enforcement in trying to figure out what happened and who did this. earlier tonight, not long ago outside mass general i spoke with congressman keating. he represents the suburb south of boston. he's also a member of the house homeland security committee. he has a good perspective on what happened here today. you are a new congressman. you are not new to massachusetts politics. am i right that you serve on the homeland security committee? >> that's correct. >> can you should any light in terms of how this incident should be characterized. how we should think about their investigation going forward? >> it's hard to separate yourself out from being someone that's represented boston before and being here. the city is just, has a

somberness that i can't remember in a long time. try to do that as all of us are looking at the family members of now three people that have lost their lives, and i think the number is at 120 now in the number of people that were injured. and you try to make sense out of something that makes no sense in what appears to be a terrorist action. and we don't know. from a homeland security perspective, you look at the symbols, because that's what terrorists try to attack. that's their targets. and here we had the marathon, which is the oldest in the country and one of the largest in the world. it's an international event, attracting almost 100 countries that have runners here. so it's that kind of symbol that a terrorist would look at. and also it's tax day. it's april 15th. and if it's a domestic type of terrorist that hates their government and wants to rebell against it, that's also a symbol

as well. i think we'll follow the evidence the way law enforcement people do, being a former da, you only know what you know. and they're sorting those things out. i can tell you this, that the fusion center here where the federal law enforcement people work with the state law enforcement people and the local is one of the finest in the whole country. it's rated that way. and so there's though question in my mind that that group added with the assets of the entire country right now, that the president is calling on, will bring the person responsible to justice. there's that level of confidence right thousand. but it's hard to even go there when you're sitting there, that people that you know, and people that know other people have been injured thin this. three have already lost their lives. it's hard to get past that, but the professionals who are doing their are doing that and they will bring that person to justice. >> and one of the reasons i

wanted to get specific about the details we have from the hospitals is because while this targeted apparently the funnish line, it really did target the bystanders. you don't have 2 year old kids running the marathon. they're there as babes in arms. >> so many of those family members are people running for charities. they might have a family member who has cancer or another kind of ailment and they're running to raise money for that. and their loved ones are sitting there at the are finish line to embrace them after a long commitment of time. >> in terms of the type of attack, one of the things that's broken late is that there's reportedly a number of unexploded dough vievices. and we don't have all of the information yet. and they're telling us to

proceed with caution as to how many events might have been planned in addition to the explosions that happened. >> there are sources that we've had that have told us that there are at least two other bombs that weren't detonated as well. so you can look at the brighter side of it and said it could have been worse without the medical, hospitals that we have so clear, without the triaging that's there for the marathon any way. it's small solace to those people that are lost their loved ones and, you know, the people that have been injured. but their could have been worse. >> as a form are drnlt a., though, one of the things that occurs to me about having unexploded devices in custody is that that's very valuable evidence in terms of tracking the types of devices these were and in terms of getting leads for the investigative tro ses. >> and the devices that have exploded are very valuable in terms of evidence. we're bringing the best people

in the country here to boston. we've got some of the best to begin with. but they're bringing in people from the fbi, from new york and other areas that are especially trained on that. and this is an amazing country. and as much as we feel that we're pulled apart tonight i think of all those people running shoulder to shoulder. and this city is lifeless tonight. but there will be tomorrow. and we're going to be pulling together as a country. and this is a very resilient city as well. and we will pull together and help as much as we can, the victims. and we're going to make sure the people that did this are brought to justice. >> that's congressman bill keating of massachusetts. and i spoke to him just a little bit over an hour ago. and to give you an idea how quickly news is changing. our discussion there about there being unexploded dough vices has

since been surpassed by the facts. and we're now told not to say definitively that there were any other unexploded dough voices other than the two that in fact exploded. there have been other package, suspect packages that have been taken care of by law enforcement officials. they were treated as suspected packages, we do not know if they were unexploded bombs at this point. and we can't say if there were any other unexploded devices found. joining us now is pulitzer prize journalist. he's the guy you want to talk to. he is the definitive author of the american response to terrorism with the 1% doctrine. thanks for being here. in terms of how america responds to threat and how america responds to terror, obviously investigation and law enforcement is a huge part of this, but there's more to it,

too. >> it's interesting. there are things you can control and things you can't. we're probably not going to be able to stop these kind of attacks. leaving a backpack in a crowded place like this is almost unstoppable. remember the goal of any bomber, whether it's a lone wolf or a group is to create fear and panic. and part of what i think has happened since 9/11 is there's been a great public education. as to this dialog the public is having with whoever this is, whoever does these things to us. whether it's an organized group or a lone wolf. and i think part of it is what the british call keep calm and carr eon? the brits have learned a lot of these lessons. they had the ira a long time before al qaeda arrives. we need to do that too. we're not going to change our basic character. we're going to try to remain true, to essentially being the way we've always been. and i think that is a challenge,

though, now. you feel the havoc growing across the global news cycles. and you say, look, for someone doing something leak this, you're trying to get in the mind of a bomber, maybe this is a victory. there's fear all over the unit. there's a question of where next? i think the next 24 to 48 hours will be important in terms of leadership, people in the law enforcement community as well as the political actors. let's take a deep breath. >> in terms of how we have evolved as a country, in terms of the way our leaders talk to us as the public, but when we are given instruction, reassurance and given response from our leaders, both in law enforcement, politically, is there a new consensus that it ought to be about resilience and it ought not be about revenge or

some kind of acute response. has that changed? >> i think it has. there's a balance. people get it now. they're like wait a second. what we do now is important. let's not just go no ha frenzy and a froth. as well in a so the owe voce conversation. people are signaling from out inned wide, in the wide pop lass as to all right, bad thing happened. horrors have unfolded. and. >> it's not the first, it won't be the last. >> it won't be the last. and the fact is whatever you say about how this was done, it had some sophistication, it was two bombs that occurred, seemingly in a kind of siel ultanity that was not effective. and the bottom line is that no matter what we do as a society, if we remain a free society, this sort of thing had happen and will happen again. and part of what we're learning now is what do we do in

response. >> and how do we stay who we are. >> absolutely. >> great to have you here. pulitzer prizewinning journalist. if you have not read the 1% solution, today is a good day to start. we have more on the story, including the team from newtown, connecticut who ran the race today.

i'm reporting live outside the hospital in boston. 20 students and six educators were killed in the newtown shooting. and the 26th mile was dedicated to the memory of those 26 victims, a team from newtown, connecticut ran in their honor. watch. >> today brought another round of heartache for a teeny

connecticut town that has already suffered so much. the 117th boston marathon was dedicated to the memory of the lives lost in the newtown, connecticut shooting. each runner marked 26 seconds of silence. for some runners, it was personal. >> in a way, it's a little bit reliving what we felt like on that day and the days after. it was pretty horrific. it's hard to wrap your head around that another horrific event has occurred. >> reporter: the symmetry was inescapable. runners in a world famous event that celebrates life, remembering the school children and educators that died last december. a pediatrician from newtown was

one of a small group of parents who took part in the marathon. her fourth grade daughter survived the shooting. >> we hit heart break hill. weigh know it's nothing like the pane and suffering that our parents are feel back home. and it's just running, but we want our tens to count. and we want our parents and families to know that we're not quitting, and they can never quit. but they're in our hearts always. >> reporter: their goal to support a charity called newtown strong. >> and when we hit boils ton street, we're going to sprint that day to get to our children. and we're going to fly like those little children flew. and we're going to let it all out and run for tfreedom and th

full on love of life that the kids had. >> reporter: their marathon plans were elaborate. there was even a marker dedicated to the san at this hook victims. and in the vip stands, a section set aside for families of the newtown victims. and then this. yet another senseless act of violence, reverberating in a place still raw from its own anguish. >> why would anybody do this? you know, they have to find who did this and take them to justice. >> reporter: and tonight, a report that one 8 year old had died and multiple others had been injured touched a place that has yet to heal. >> it brought back that feeling that everybody that you know is okay. >> reporter: few may be as heartfelt from those from this

town that is still mourning horrific losses of its own. >> that was dateline's androe a cannon reporting. i live in massachusetts. i live about as far as boston as you can get and still be in massachusettsment but living in my state means that you're in and out of boston all the time. i have friends here. it is a place i love. it is a place i never expected to be standing in reporting in front of mass general under these circumstances. tonight mike hayes tweeted this picture from new york city. specifically from brooklyn. it's a projection from the new york city light brigade. and it's a projection onto the outside of the brooklyn academy of music. it read the darkness cannot drive out darkness.